Hy guys, I have been saying for a little while now that I would ride from Perth WA down south to Yallingup in the Margaret River Region. I am just wondering if anyone has already done this ride and could help me out with the route? Im not to sure if I have to ride on the freeway or if there is some sort of southern bike trail I could use, doing my research now. Any help would be greatly appreciated, thanks.

ride down the bike path to Gordon road or Manjoodelup (or however it is spelt) and cut into Mandurah and then go down through Falcon and across Dawesville cut and down Old Coast Road as less traffic then onto Forest highway down to Bunbury then keep going down to just north of Busselton and turn right and cut through the Tuart Forest and along foreshore into Busselton then leaving Busselton maybe go down Caves Road for several kms (it is very busy and there are basically no shoulders so gets scary after roundabout with Bussell Hwy) until Bussell Hwy and turn south for about 2km and then turn right into Vasse-Yallingup Road and go about 12km?? to Hayes Road and turn right. You will be looking west towards the line of low hills that run nth/sth between Dunsborough and Yallingup. Hayes Road takes you up to Commonage Road then turn left. Travel down Commonage a few km to Marrinup Road and then follow Marrinup Rad for about 6.5km (do not turn off) as it winds it way across to Caves Road. You come out on Caves Road about 1km south of Yallingup-Caves Road turn off.

There are other alternatives when on Commonage like going right down (north) to Biddle Road or all the way into Dunsborough) but this route has LOTS less traffic and is flatter and much more picturesque. Caves Road between Duns and Yallingup is not recommended for bikes IMHO give width of road and amount of traffic.

Hope this helps. I have ridden to Busselton a few times now from Perth and lived for a while in Dunsborough and used the hills up and aroundCommonage Road as my little picturesque ride most mornings before i went to work.

Bit of a thread resurrection but has anyone done the ride from Perth to Yallingup/Dunsborough/Busso recently? Any sections to avoid or detours to take? I'm heading down to Dunsborough with a group of non-riders on Anzac Day but so rather than do the normal car trip I've decided to ride down plus looking to crack 400km in a day (current best is 312km).

So far it's looking like Perth to Mandurah via the usual means, Old Coast Road via Australind and Bunbury, Tuart Drive, Layman Road through Busselton then down Bussell Hwy to Vasse Yallingup Road as per giwi2's suggestion then a lap of Meelup Beach and up to Cape Naturaliste before heading back to Dunsborough. Whilst I don't hold much fear of highway riding it's likely to be a little on the late side and I suspect with the school holidays + public holiday the roads will be busy. Are there any other routes/detours that are worth trying? According to GoogleMaps my current plan leaves me around 80km short so I'll probably get up early and do some laps of the river first to build up the distance so I don't mind going out of my way if the route is going to be quieter.

This is the route I took (was split over 4 days as it was a charity ride and there were a few novices).

Worst stretches were along the freeway between Mandurah / Bunbury because of the road quality (I was running 20c tyres at 110psi, first mistake ha), Caves Rd coming back from Yallingup (really heavy traffic) and between Dunsborough and Busso (really heavy traffic again - it was during leavers).

This is the route I took (was split over 4 days as it was a charity ride and there were a few novices).

Worst stretches were along the freeway between Mandurah / Bunbury because of the road quality (I was running 20c tyres at 110psi, first mistake ha), Caves Rd coming back from Yallingup (really heavy traffic) and between Dunsborough and Busso (really heavy traffic again - it was during leavers).

Thanks HLC. The sections I'm dreading are the 40km stretch from where Old Coast Road and Forrest Hwy intersect to Australind and 26.5km from Bunbury to Tuart Drive. From the looks of things I should be able to avoid Caves Road via Vasse Yallingyup, Hayes, Commonange, Biddle and Yungarra Roads/Drive (providing I don't get lost, every chance it'll be dark by the time I get there ).

This is the route I took (was split over 4 days as it was a charity ride and there were a few novices).

Worst stretches were along the freeway between Mandurah / Bunbury because of the road quality (I was running 20c tyres at 110psi, first mistake ha), Caves Rd coming back from Yallingup (really heavy traffic) and between Dunsborough and Busso (really heavy traffic again - it was during leavers).

Thanks HLC. The sections I'm dreading are the 40km stretch from where Old Coast Road and Forrest Hwy intersect to Australind and 26.5km from Bunbury to Tuart Drive. From the looks of things I should be able to avoid Caves Road via Vasse Yallingyup, Hayes, Commonange, Biddle and Yungarra Roads/Drive (providing I don't get lost, every chance it'll be dark by the time I get there ).

Yep, the stretch between OCR/Forrest to Australind is the one I complained about best of luck!

Did 407km for the day in a little over 14 hours . A bit of feedback if anyone uncovers this thread in the future and decides to do the ride.

It was a long day but a fairly uneventful ride and a lot safer than what I was expecting. It was a little hairy south of Bunbury to Tuart Drive but for the most part the shoulder was quite accommodating.Ludlow Forrest was a welcoming detour and fairly quiet, as was OCR from Mandurah to Forrest Hwy.A word of warning though - the Commonage Road back route and Cape Naturaliste road would be good fun if you're based down that way but after 370km in the saddle it was a little challenging.

Trepidious wrote:Did 407km for the day in a little over 14 hours . A bit of feedback if anyone uncovers this thread in the future and decides to do the ride.

It was a long day but a fairly uneventful ride and a lot safer than what I was expecting. It was a little hairy south of Bunbury to Tuart Drive but for the most part the shoulder was quite accommodating.Ludlow Forrest was a welcoming detour and fairly quiet, as was OCR from Mandurah to Forrest Hwy.A word of warning though - the Commonage Road back route and Cape Naturaliste road would be good fun if you're based down that way but after 370km in the saddle it was a little challenging.